Monday, August 2, 2010

We meet ein Golem

Thank you, Rabbi Löw.

It was pouring rain last Saturday, so Mike and I thought it would be a good opportunity to check out museum(s) in town. Because we didn't really feel like spending the entire day at it, we decided on the manageably-sized Munich Toy Museum. The museum is in a tower at the Altes Rathaus (old city hall) in the middle of Marienplatz, which is a little weird to begin with.

The exhibits span four floors of the tower - each room is maybe 20'x20', with displays around the perimeter and a display case in the middle. The floors are sort of arranged by theme, or at least the cases are...the crowning glory being an artificial Christmas tree in the center case on the top floor, decorated with all manner of bizarre ornaments, and surrounded by teddy bears in various stages of (dis)assembly.

Oh the horror

More exciting even than dismembered bears, though, is the special robot exhibit - especially the Golem pictured at the outset. I really liked this guy as well:

There are also all manner of wooden and pressed tin handpainted toys, and articulated dolls which are evidently highly sought after by toy connoisseurs.

I found the whole atmosphere to be pretty macabre, in a way that seemed appropriate for a rainy day in Germany. Really just reeked of the Brothers Grimm. Allow me to illustrate: